Florida's prescription-drug database launches

Florida's prescription-drug-monitoring database, which advocates say will help discourage doctor shopping and deter physicians from over-prescribing, is slated to launch today — after an effort by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this year to kill the program.

Supporters of the database have touted it as a key tool in combating Florida's prescription-drug epidemic.

Law enforcers say one of the reasons so many drug abusers and dealers travel to Florida for their prescriptions is because their home state already has a similar monitoring program.

In Florida, abusers have been able to buy powerful, addictive painkillers and sedatives at medical clinics with relative ease. They can pay for their visits with cash and often receive little or no true medical evaluation at the rogue clinics, known as pill mills.

Last year, 90 of the top 100 oxycodone-purchasing doctors in the nation were from Florida.

Supporters of the database contend tracking prescribing history in Florida will deter drug abusers and unscrupulous physicians.

"It's long overdue. But I'm very pleased that it's going to happen," said Sen. Mike Fasano, the New Port Richey Republican who sponsored the legislation that established the program.

Legislation establishing Florida's database was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2009. The program was supposed to be up and running last year, but it was delayed by bid disputes.

Then this year, Scott proposed eliminating the program — citing patient-privacy concerns — stunning legislators and the law-enforcement community.

Elected officials throughout the country implored the governor to reverse his position.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican whose state leads the nation in the nonmedical use of prescription drugs, told Scott that canceling Florida's drug database was "equal to firing firefighters while your house is ablaze."

Even White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske reached out to Scott.

The governor eventually reversed his position.

Now, anytime a prescription is dispensed for controlled substances, the doctor and the patient's name will be entered into Florida's database. The information has to be input into the database within seven days after the drugs are dispensed.

Law enforcement will have access to the database, though they will have to show proof of an investigation, and their request will have to be approved by a program manager.

Fasano said it will likely take several months before the state sees any positive effects of the database.

"I believe that once this is up and running for a while, that we will actually start seeing a reduction in doctor shopping. You will see a reduction in people using false prescriptions, imitation prescriptions," he said. "The state of Florida will see lives being saved."

Forty-seven other states have enacted a drug database, though only 35 of those are operational, according to the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

The Department of Health estimates the annual operating cost for the drug database will be about $475,000. No state money can be used for the program, per the legislation, and so funding will come from federal and private grants and donations.

Fasano said he has been told there is enough money to operate the program for a few years. But beyond that, there is no guaranteed funding source. It's unclear what would happen to the database if state leaders can't find money to fund the program.

Kerlikowske said the database "will save lives, improve public safety and help ease the suffering too many Floridians have felt as a result of the prescription-drug-abuse epidemic."

"I commend the state of Florida for taking this vital step toward easing the severe public-health-and-safety threat posed by prescription-drug abuse in Florida," he said. "But this is just the first step. I now encourage Florida and every state in the nation with a monitoring system to make their programs stronger and more efficient."